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Checkoff is Klonoski legacy

The late political scientist and Democratic Party leader would be pleased with the revived program

By David Steves

The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Saturday, July 11, 2009, page A1

SALEM — If still alive, Jim Klonoski would not have been terribly impressed by the Legislature’s resolution filled with words about his life’s accomplishments and his civic contributions.

The problem for the late political scientist and party leader would have been the abundance of platitudes and the absence of action.

That, at least, is how his family members see it.

“We appreciated it, but he wouldn’t have cared for the fanfare,” said Nick Klonoski. His father was a veteran of World War II, a walking encyclopedia of baseball knowledge, and chairman of the Democratic Party in Lane County during the early 1970s and statewide from 1974-80. He taught political science at the University of Oregon for four decades.

Klonoski died in January at age 83. After his passing, several of his eight grown children and his widow, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken, got to talking about his life.

“One thing we agreed on was how much he loved the dollar checkoff,” recalled Nick Klonoski, a veteran campaign worker.

That’s the section of Oregon’s tax return forms that allowed taxpayers to dedicate $1 of their taxes to any ballot-qualified political party — something the elder Klonoski championed in the 1970s. The Legislature placed it on the books starting in 1977. It was allowed to expire in 1981 and wasn’t revived until this year. That’s when his family decided that getting something done to invigorate party politics would have pleased Jim Klonoski more than the Legislature’s resolution memorializing him.

So three of his sons, Nick, Zach and Jake, got to work on a bill to bring back the political party checkoff.

It turns out that between his university teaching and his Democratic Party mentoring, Klonoski had sent forth generations of graduates and office holders who were happy to help his sons revise and reinstitute the program.

Oregon alums Vicki Walker, a Eugene Democrat, helped champion the bill on the Senate side, while over in the House, it was promoted by former Klonoski students Jefferson Smith, D-Portland, and Scott Bruun, R-West Linn, as well as Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, and the lawmakers’ Capitol aides.

Among those coaxed into politics by Klonoski is a former lawyer from Junction City named Ted Kulongoski. As a Lane County Democratic chairman in 1973, Klonoski cajoled the young attorney into running for state representative. It was the first of several offices Kulongoski would hold, leading up to the governorship.

In late July or early August, Kulongoski will host a small ceremony for Klonoski’s family and admirers, at which the governor will sign into law the bill that brings back the political party checkoff on Oregon tax forms.

“My guess is that he’s in heaven looking down, and he’s already filing his taxes and checking off to make a contribution to the Democratic Party,” Kulongoski said.

The new program won’t be identical to the original one. The first time around, the $1 came from taxes paid that otherwise would have gone into public services. It added up to more than $100,000 a year. This time the amount taxpayers can designate is $3, but the money won’t come from their taxes owed, but from the refunds heading back to them.

The chairmen of Oregon’s Democratic and Republican parties both have signed a letter endorsing the new version of the program.

Son Zach said getting the checkoff reinstated would keep alive Klonoski’s legacy and serve the kind of practical purpose that his dad always strived for.

“This raises money from a lot of people who maybe can’t afford more than $3, but this gets them invested in the process, which my dad thought was really important,” said Zach Klonoski, who enters law school in the fall at the University of Oregon.

He and brother Nick lobbied for the bill in Oregon while brother Jake, a U.S. naval officer stationed in Naples, Italy, wrote lawmakers via e-mail.

Along the way, the brothers came to understand that getting the bill passed was about more than doing something in tribute to their dad: It was an experience in which they felt their late father urging them, one final time, off the sidelines and into action.

It was, as Jake Klonoski said via e-mail, “one of my father’s last and best teaching moments.”